It's been over a month since Vic and the Sect's gig at Fibber Magees and it nearly ended up a three piece Vic
and Subway Sect for their first gig
in Ireland! Read on......Twenty One and a half hours in Dublin - It only took Vic Godard & Subway Sect 30 Odd Years to play in Ireland and it looked like it was all going to be straightforward when we set off for Heathrow. The flight was at 2.15pm so plenty
of time for everyone to get there..........we
thought.........erroneously. The flight closed at 1.50pm and at 1.30pm
one of our party was still in Hammersmith, a good 40 minutes away. Hasty
discussions ensued as to how a set might be put together with a trio,
bass, drums and guitar, it's been done before, with a drum machine,
having pre programmed the beats Vic removed shoe and sock on stage to
use his big toe to turn it off and on! Unlucky for some but lucky for
us, our flight was delayed for over an hour and the errant Sectee
squeaked it. Phew. After a further twenty minutes on the tarmac waiting
for a slot we took off at 4pmish, touch down in Dublin at 5pm, reached
hotel at 6pm, time saved as The Gate is next door to Fibber Magees and
conveniently has it's own entrance directly in to the venue. A city
centre location, very helpful and accommodating staff, good Irish
breakfast (although Vic not keen on the white pudding) and served until 11am, that's what I call a
civilised time to have breakfast. It isn't a quiet location but then
you don't come to this part of Dublin on a Friday night for peace and
quiet! The hotel is about 20/30 minutes from the airport by taxi, there is airbus 747 which drops and picks up outside the hotel, €6
pp, if there are more than four of you it is cheaper by taxi,
you may have to wait a bit at the airport for a taxi for 5+ however we
thought it was worth it.http://thegatehotel.ie/

A warm welcome awaited us at Fibber Magees and we made lots of new
friends and Vic got to say hello to some FB friends, just a few who I
spoke to - Francis H, DM Dunne, Bernie F, John B and John B - yes, some
confusion did arise with this, in hindsight the first John B to arrive
must have thought I was a bit mad, flashing the two copies of the vinyl
We Come As Aliens at him that I had hidden away and which we had brought
specially for him..........or so I thought. I did think it was a little curious when he only wanted one copy and when he said he didn't have 1979 NOW! my perplexity deepened, I knew
we'd sent John B two copies of it! All became clear when the second
John B arrived, of course I then had to explain why I only had the one
WCAA! Serendipitous event of the night occurred during the sound check
when a man who was waiting for his son to finish playing chess round the
corner, popped in to see what was afoot and find out a bit about Vic,
he'd liked what he heard as he came in and wanted to hear more so bought
30 ODD YEARS and then off he went to pick up his son! http://www.fibbermagees.ie/Fibbers_2/flash%20home%20page/home.html

It was an unforgettable show with standout sets from The Dubtones,
The Gakk and Audible Joes cranking things up, Vic and the Sect, Ian
Holford, Kevin Younger and Mark Braby played a blinder and got a
fantastic reception. Special Thanks to Peter Jones for inviting Vic over
(and lending his guitar, Vic says sorry he broke a string, song before
last in set!) JP, John Claude for the sound, everyone else at Fibbers
and to EVERYONE who came, Vic and the Sect said it was a great
atmosphere to play in and are all looking forward to coming back. Also
Special Thanks go to The Dubtones for lending (and trusting!) Subway
Sect with their gear. https://www.facebook.com/dubtonesireland?ref=ts&fref=tshttps://www.facebook.com/thegakkhttps://www.facebook.com/AudibleJoes?fref=ts

I've started a Vic/Celtic/Caledonian Connections page and that is where you will find details of the unforgettable evening we spent with Jock Scot at a packed to busting Heavenly Social on 14th September, accompanied by Nectarine No 9, beautiful photograph of Jock by Peter Tainsh. (More of Peter's photographs later on)http://vicgodardandsubwaysect.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog- page_16.html PS If anyone has any dates or info we've missed please let me or Vic know and we'll add it.

What a night of delights at Trash'd Punky Monkey at The Brass Monkey in Hastings and full of lovely people, Ben, Keith, Sandra, Amanda, Sue G, Tracey, Lee, Jem, Shelley and Phil, John G, Tim Smith, Grant McPhee, to name just a few. This Is Punk Brighton' opened with Kevin and Tug Phipps' short film, a fascinating introduction in to the birth of punk in Brighton. I'd never heard of The Vault, only dedicated punk spirit(!) would have seen the opportunities - electricity, free rehearsal and performance spaces, as opposed to the disadvantages of these cemetery vaults, with many relics still in situ or spilling out of their coffins.

Very pleased to
have met Tim Smith, no side, a heart of punk and he is a man after our
own DIY gnu inc minded selves, got a few tips off him as well! His
performance pulled the attentive audience in close, they want to hear
all his words and the appreciation and affection felt for TV Smith was
palpable. Video below - 'No Time To Be 21' courtesy of Trash'd's Keith Rodway.http://www.tvsmith.com/https://www.facebook.com/TVSmith77?fref=ts

Great set from the Sect and despite a somewhat disorganised sound check the sound was brilliant. Groovin' Best Album from Vic, Mark, Kevin and Ian filmed by Lee McFadden. More videos of the night by Lee and Tracey Holloway: https://www.youtube.com/user/leefact25/videos

Throughout the night we had a great set of tunes courtesy of DJ Sue Grant, in fact Vic commented that it was the best DJ set he's heard at one of his gigs. You can listen to DJ Sue's show live on Shoreditch Radio on Mondays 6-8pm - http://www.shoreditchradio.co.uk/broadcast-schedule/
and you can catch up with the podcasts of previous shows on mixcloud, defy you not to have a wiggle even if you're listening sitting down - Northern Soul, Soul, 60's, Rhythm n Blues & more.

THEN Sunday 15th November Vic and the Sect are looking forward to being back in Dundee again to play for Andy Wood at Beat Generator LIVE! with Special Guests Stoor. Look out for Vic's interview with Andy wood for Manic Pop Thrills nearer the date.http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/vic_godard_live.html#dundee

27th November heading over the Penines to Newcastle for another Children
of Godard Special with POST, El Cid and DJ Johny Brown, promises to be
another memorable COG (last year had stage invasion!) If you want one of the fab tickets on the left: http://www.vicgodard.co.uk/vic_godard_live.html#newcastle

The Gnapstones consider stopping for a brontoburger at Bedrock City Drive In on their way west.

We had a couple of days exploring a bit of North Devon, stunning coastline and scenery, some seriously scary narrow, very bendy roads, lots of walking, lots of crab. Below are the views from our room at the Lynton Cottage Hotel. I think I'd
liken this to a luxury B+B more than a full blown hotel, the staff were all very
helpful and welcoming, room roomy, all have sea views and some have
bijou balconies, we did not have the most comfortable mattress, you have to order your dinner by 6pm at the latest and have to sit down for it between
6.45pm and 7.30pm. I wondered if they had a sous chef on site at night as
most of the dishes are along the lines of casseroles apart from the
crab, which we had. I can't comment on the other things on offer like Exmoor venison in red wine although they appeared to be going down well in the full restaurant.

Road kill? It is possible, in Dorset, Wareham Forest area, I know of someone who supplies pubs/hotels/restaurants with deer meat from roadkill. We got a whole, largish, crab each, all the hard work done, (portions are large in the West Country) served with
salad and bread, not a lot of seasoning/dressing however they were happy to provide mayonnaise on request (not had toast with smoked salmon before, my starter, interesting mix of textures). You can opt to eat at one of the restaurants in Lynton, minutes away on foot, as you discover on the drive here, you would be insane to drive on the surrounding roads after dark to go anywhere else. The staff, the location, the room, the grounds and the views did it for me and I definitely recommend a stay here if you are visiting
North Devon. http://lyntoncottage.com/

SPOOKY! (The faint lights in the distance are in Wales!)

Lynmouth
is a small village with huge scenery surrounding it. A practical
point - it has no cash machines that we could find, which we
discovered after walking the 600 metres down the steep and sometimes
very steep path from Lynton
to Lynmouth and then having to walk back up again as we had no cash for
the lift!. The video clip is the West Lyn, the smallest of three rivers
that flow into Lynmouth, the East Lyn is the one in the bottom right
photo above and Hoar Oak Water meets the East Lyn at Watersmeet further
up the road.http://www.northdevon.com/Locations/Lynton-and-Lynmouth

Ilfracombe and 'VERITY'

Ilfracombe is a pretty seaside village (used to be a fishing village however little sign of any fishing activity now) and it didn't look like it had changed much since I was a teenager EXCEPT for, standing
tall (66ft) and proud at the entrance to the harbour is Verity, a
Damian Hirst sculpture, her stance based on Edgar Degas' La Petite
Danseuse and although I'm loath to admit it (not what you'd call a fan
of Mr H's work) Verity is magnificent. The statue is on loan to
Ilfracombe for twenty years, not everyone sees this as a boon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19881524
I
wonder if Ilfracombe is destined to be the next Padstein? Mr Hirst has
opened a restaurant and shop so far. Hirstcombe or Ilfrahirst?

We had the
HUGE afternoon tea, absolutely scrummy however way too much for us in one go and we were offered doggy bags for what we couldn't eat. A bargain at £9.50
pp, highly recommend, dogs welcome at the courtyard tables.http://visitilfracombe.co.uk/surrounding-area

The South
West Coast Path, Lynton to the Valley of the Rocks - I wouldn't recommend this if you
suffer from vertigo, I got to the point where your choices are to go round a headland where the path gets narrower and the drop even sheerer or scramble steeply upwards so, after having a rest on a rock and a visual reconnoiter I made the decision that discretion was definitely the better part of valour and we turned back, me leaning to starboard, eyes averted from the drop and gripping the grass bank the
whole way (just thankful I wasn't reduced to all fours which has happened before!). http://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/walksdb/247/

The Bees by Laline Paull
An extraordinary book, very hard to adequately describe, you need to actively engage your brain with the hive way of life and it is hard as a reader not to anthropomorphise the bees, however, if you don't this is a fascinating, inciteful and an erudite interpretive story about the life of bees. It is impossible not to feel empathy particularly if you are a woman however I wouldn't call this a feminist tome at all. I held bees in high regard before I read this and my respect, admiration and, frankly, awe at what they achieve against all the odds has increased tenfold and has made me want to read more about these incredible creatures. The book has left me with a residual guilt about the way we treat bees (no bad thing), stealing their food supplies. Highly, highly recommend. http://www.lalinepaull.com/the-bees/synopsis/

Vic just finished The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, a whole different kettle of fish, the only novel in Latin to have survived in it's entirety since the late 2nd century AD, man is transformed in to an ass, suffers trials and tribulations and then................I've removed the spoiler about the outcome, in case I ruined the anticipation of finding out yourselves! Do I hear a song coming on? http://www.jnanam.net/golden-ass/http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/books/the-golden-ass/9780140435900/

Vic auditions for the part of Sganarelle inMolière's Le Médecin malgré lui.

13th November 2015 on Cicada Books - The Bag I'm in: Underground Music and Fashion in Britain 1960 - 1990 by Sam Knee, follows his acclaimed book A Scene In Between and is it's ideal companion piece, another fascinating collection of photographs brought together very cleverly by Mr Knee to tell this evocative, sartorial story, includes one of Vic circa 1975, see it and others on Sam Knees guest blog for Glasgow Music City Tours.

I thought I liked Jack Savaretti........ however apart from the following what I've listened to is not my cup of tea at all.

I initially thought Mr Savaretti was comparable to The Lighthouse Family, vocals Tunde Baiyewu and keyboards Paul Tucker (met at Newcastle University), I realised I got that wrong on re-listening to 'Ocean Drive'. Vic's got FIVE mixes of this, one of which has a dire Roger Troutman homage on, the 'Linslee Remix' 1996, which he tricked me in to playing on youtube, only for a few seconds though. Do I like vocoders? No, I do not. If you do, Ocean Drive Troutmanised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiglwcMq8Yk
and below the original-

The Window Ledge Books

These are my window ledge books, some my read again and again and others books I've tried to read over the decades but not managed to finish yet, guess which! There are also the bedside table books, current reading/dipping in to; the bookshelves books, read and odd unread, outside chance of reading again/dipping in to; the cupboard book case books, reference, old, odds and sods and the garage books,occasional forays resulting in 'I forgot I had that, must read again'.

When and why did the plural of guy start being used as a noun for either sex while the singular of the noun has remained steadfastly a male domain? Tad sexist wouldn't you say? There must be some non gender specific term for when you're talking to/with a mixed group of girls/boys or women/men (other than remembering everyone's name)? Peeps? Anyway I am not a guy I am a free gnu.

and just because I like it, going to stop now though, could keep going for a while with Mr B!

'Won't Turn Back' in all it's guises...........so far!
I know I've posted a couple of these in different blogs before, here they are together:
Original from End Of The Surrey People with Douglas Hart video.